Cloud Computing 101: A Guide to the Cloud

Cloud services

?Cloud service is a term that refers to a wide range of services delivered on demand to companies and customers over the internet. These services are designed to provide easy, affordable access to applications and resources, without the need for internal infrastructure or hardware, also they can be delivered through public clouds, private clouds, or Hybrid Clouds.

?There are three basic types of cloud services:?

1-Software as a Service (SaaS) → provides access to software applications that run on the cloud, such as email, file storage, and project management tools.

2-Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) → provides access to computing resources such as servers, storage, and networks that can be scaled up or down as needed.

3-Platform as a Service (PaaS) → provides access to development tools and platforms that enable users to create and deploy applications on the cloud.

?Some examples of Cloud service providers;

- Amazon Web Services (AWS): The leader in IaaS and PaaS, offering a wide range of cloud-based services such as compute, storage, database, analytics, networking, and machine learning.

- Microsoft Azure: A strong No. 2 in IaaS and PaaS, also offering various cloud-based services as well as hybrid cloud solutions and SaaS products like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.

- Google Cloud Platform (GCP): A strong No. 3 in IaaS and PaaS, with a focus on big data and analytics, AI and machine learning, and Kubernetes.

- Alibaba Cloud: The primary cloud option in China, offering similar services as AWS, Azure, and GCP, as well as some unique products for the Chinese market.

- IBM Cloud: A hybrid cloud player that leverages its acquisition of Red Hat to offer cloud services based on open source technologies.

- Salesforce: The leader in SaaS, offering a suite of cloud-based applications for customer relationship management (CRM), marketing, sales, service, and more.

- Oracle Cloud: A cloud provider that offers both IaaS and PaaS services, as well as SaaS products for ERP, CRM, HCM, and SCM.

- SAP Cloud Platform: A cloud provider that offers PaaS services for developing and integrating SAP applications, as well as SaaS products for ERP, CRM, HCM, and SCM.

- ServiceNow: A SaaS provider that offers cloud-based solutions for IT service management (ITSM), IT operations management (ITOM), IT business management (ITBM), and more.

- Adobe: A SaaS provider that offers cloud-based solutions for creative professionals, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and more.

There are also many other smaller or regional cloud service providers that cater to specific markets or niches3?. For example:

- Baidu AI Cloud,Huawei Cloud, Kingsoft Cloud, JD Cloud, QingCloud, and UCloud are some of the cloud service providers in China.

- Bleu (a joint venture between Orange and Capgemini), Hetzner, and Leaseweb are some of the cloud service providers in Europe.

- DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr are some of the cloud service providers that focus on low-cost and simple cloud computing solutions.

In this article we will be focusing on the top 3 cloud service Providers AWS, Azure, and Google. They offer various services for compute, storage, networking, databases, analytics, and more. However, they also have some differences in terms of pricing, features, and capabilities.?

-Pricing: All three providers charge on a pay-as-you-go basis, but they have different billing models. AWS charges per second for most of its services, with a minimum of 60 seconds. Azure and Google charge per minute, with a minimum of one minute. Google also offers sustained use discounts for instances that run for a long time in a month. AWS and Azure offer reserved instances for upfront commitments, while Google offers committed use discounts.

-Market share: According to Statista, AWS has the largest market share of 33%, followed by Azure with 21%, and Google with 11%. However, Azure has a higher revenue than AWS, with $23.4 billion in Q1 2022, compared to $18.44 billion for AWS and $5.8 billion for Google.

-Availability zones: Availability zones are isolated locations within a region that provide high availability and fault tolerance. AWS has 81 availability zones across 25 regions, Azure has 66 availability zones across 30 regions, and Google has 27 availability zones across 24 regions.

-Services: All three providers offer a wide range of services for various use cases and needs. However, some services are unique or more advanced in one provider than another. For example, AWS has more database options than Azure and Google, such as Amazon Aurora and Amazon DynamoDB. Azure has more enterprise-oriented services than AWS and Google, such as Azure Active Directory and Azure DevOps. Google has more expertise in machine learning and open source technologies than AWS and Azure, such as Google Cloud AI Platform and Google Kubernetes Engine.

These are some of the main aspects to consider when comparing AWS, Azure, and Google cloud platforms. Depending on your requirements, budget, and preferences.

Now Let us have a deep look at some of the services they provide.

AWS;

-Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): This service allows you to launch and manage virtual servers in the cloud. You can choose from different types, sizes, and configurations of instances to suit your needs and budget. You can also scale up or down your capacity as needed, and pay only for what you use.

-Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): This service provides scalable, durable, and secure object storage in the cloud. You can store and retrieve any amount of data, from anywhere on the web, at any time. You can also use S3 for backup, archiving, disaster recovery, and data lake solutions.

-Amazon DynamoDB: This service is a fully managed NoSQL database that delivers fast and consistent performance at any scale. You can store and query any type of data, with single-digit millisecond latency. You can also use DynamoDB for serverless applications, gaming, IoT, and more.

-Amazon Kinesis: This service enables you to collect, process, and analyze real-time streaming data from various sources, such as web, mobile, IoT devices, social media, etc. You can use Kinesis to build applications that react to data in real time, such as dashboards, alerts, recommendations, etc.

-Amazon Route 53: This service is a highly available and scalable domain name system (DNS) service that routes web traffic to your applications. You can use Route 53 to register domain names, manage DNS records, monitor health checks, and balance load across multiple resources.

-Amazon MQ: This service is a managed message broker service that supports industry-standard protocols such as AMQP, MQTT, JMS, etc. You can use Amazon MQ to integrate and decouple your applications using messages. You can also migrate your existing message brokers to Amazon MQ with minimal changes.

-AWS CloudFormation: This service allows you to model and provision your AWS resources using code. You can use CloudFormation to automate and standardize your cloud infrastructure deployment and management. You can also use CloudFormation to create stacks of related resources that can be updated or deleted as a single unit.

-AWS Lambda: This service lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You can use Lambda to create serverless applications that respond to events such as HTTP requests, database changes, S3 uploads, etc. You pay only for the compute time you consume.

These are some of the AWS services that you can use to build and run your applications in the cloud. AWS also offers many other services for different purposes and scenarios.

Azure;

-Azure App Service: This service allows you to build and host web applications, REST APIs, and mobile backends in the cloud. You can use various languages and frameworks, such as .NET, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, etc. You can also scale up or down your applications as needed, and pay only for what you use.

-Azure Storage: This service provides scalable, durable, and secure data storage in the cloud. You can store and access any type of data, such as blobs, files, queues, tables, etc. You can also use Azure Storage for backup, archiving, disaster recovery, and data lake solutions.

-Azure SQL Database: This service is a fully managed relational database that supports SQL Server and Azure SQL features. You can store and query structured and semi-structured data, with built-in high availability, performance, and security. You can also use Azure SQL Database for serverless applications, hybrid scenarios, and more.

-Azure Synapse Analytics: This service is a unified analytics platform that combines data warehousing, big data processing, data integration, and machine learning. You can ingest, prepare, manage, and analyze data at any scale, using various tools and languages. You can also use Azure Synapse Analytics for business intelligence, data science, and data engineering.

-Azure DNS: This service is a highly available and scalable domain name system (DNS) service that routes web traffic to your applications. You can use Azure DNS to register domain names, manage DNS records, monitor health checks, and balance load across multiple resources.

-Azure Service Bus: This service is a fully managed message broker service that supports industry-standard protocols such as AMQP 1.0, HTTP/REST API etc. You can use Azure Service Bus to integrate and decouple your applications using messages. You can also use Azure Service Bus for reliable messaging, pub/sub scenarios, hybrid integration etc.

-Azure Resource Manager: This service allows you to model and provision your Azure resources using code. You can use Azure Resource Manager to automate and standardize your cloud infrastructure deployment and management. You can also use Azure Resource Manager to create groups of related resources that can be updated or deleted as a single unit.

-Azure Functions: This service lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You can use Azure Functions to create serverless applications that respond to events such as HTTP requests, database changes, storage uploads etc. You pay only for the compute time you consume.

Google Cloud;

-Google Compute Engine: This service allows you to launch and manage virtual machines in the cloud. You can choose from different types, sizes, and configurations of instances to suit your needs and budget. You can also scale up or down your instances as needed, and pay only for what you use.

-Google Cloud Storage: This service provides scalable, durable, and secure object storage in the cloud. You can store and access any type of data, such as blobs, files, archives, etc. You can also use Google Cloud Storage for backup, archiving, disaster recovery, and data lake solutions.

-Google Cloud SQL: This service is a fully managed relational database that supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server features. You can store and query structured and semi-structured data, with built-in high availability, performance, and security. You can also use Google Cloud SQL for serverless applications, hybrid scenarios, and more.

-Google BigQuery: This service is a serverless data warehouse that enables you to analyze large-scale data using SQL and ML. You can ingest, store, query, and visualize data at any scale, using various tools and languages. You can also use Google BigQuery for business intelligence, data science, and data engineering.

-Google Cloud DNS: This service is a highly available and scalable domain name system (DNS) service that routes web traffic to your applications. You can use Google Cloud DNS to register domain names, manage DNS records, monitor health checks, and balance load across multiple resources.

-Google Cloud Pub/Sub: This service is a fully managed message broker service that supports asynchronous communication between applications. You can use Google Cloud Pub/Sub to integrate and decouple your applications using messages. You can also use Google Cloud Pub/Sub for reliable messaging, event-driven scenarios, streaming analytics etc.

-Google Cloud Deployment Manager: This service allows you to model and provision your Google Cloud resources using code. You can use Google Cloud Deployment Manager to automate and standardize your cloud infrastructure deployment and management. You can also use Google Cloud Deployment Manager to create groups of related resources that can be updated or deleted as a single unit.

-Google Cloud Functions: This service lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You can use Google Cloud Functions to create serverless applications that respond to events such as HTTP requests, database changes, storage uploads etc. You pay only for the compute time you consume.

There are more services that are being offered for different purposes and scenarios depending on the Requirements of the clients.

Cloud services have many advantages and disadvantages, depending on your business needs and goals. Here are some of the main ones:

Advantages:

-Cost savings: Cloud services can lower your IT expenses by eliminating the need to buy, install, and maintain your own hardware and software. You only pay for what you use, and you can scale up or down as needed12.

-Reliability and security: Cloud services are typically more reliable and secure than on-premises solutions, as they are managed by professional providers who have the expertise and resources to ensure high availability, performance, backup, and disaster recovery12.

-Flexibility and scalability: Cloud services can adapt to your changing business needs and demands, as you can access them from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. You can also leverage various cloud-based services and technologies to create and deploy innovative applications faster12.

-Collaboration and productivity: Cloud services can enhance collaboration and productivity among your employees, partners, and customers, as they can share data and work on projects in real time using cloud-based tools and platforms12.

Disadvantages:

-Downtime and outages: Cloud services depend on internet connectivity, which means that if your network goes down or is slow, you may not be able to access your cloud resources or applications. Moreover, cloud providers may experience technical issues or cyberattacks that can cause service disruptions or data loss12.

-Privacy and compliance: Cloud services may raise privacy and compliance concerns, as you are entrusting your sensitive data to a third-party provider who may store it in different locations or jurisdictions. You need to ensure that your cloud provider meets your security standards and complies with the relevant laws and regulations12.

-Control and customization: Cloud services may limit your control and customization options, as you have to rely on the provider's infrastructure, software, and policies. You may not be able to configure or modify the cloud services according to your specific preferences or requirements12.

-Vendor lock-in: Cloud services may create vendor lock-in, which means that it may be difficult or costly to switch to another provider or migrate back to an on-premises solution. You need to consider the compatibility, portability, and interoperability of your cloud services before choosing a provider12.